Kayse Shrum, D.O., chair of the pediatrics department, nominated Sue Lawson for the OSU Pride Works award as follows:

“Sue has been a long-time employee of OSU. Sue comes to work with a smile on her face and eager to do her job everyday. Sue has considered retiring in the past but chose to stay out of devotion to her fellow department members and love of her job. Sue is very conscientious about her work. She makes sure patients who request their medical records receive them in a timely manner. This is not always an easy job to get the physicians to close their EMR quickly but she handles this with ease. She is always respectful of our time yet makes sure the patients are taken care of in a timely manner. Sue will definitely be missed here when she does retire. Sue always exceeds my expectations because she takes pride in everything she does.”

Says Lawson, “I was absolutely shocked. The award was a very nice surprise.“

Lawson joined OSU in 1991 after an oil industry layoff sent her back to school at Tulsa Community College. She earned an associates degree and became a medical secretary at OSU. She also was a TCC adjunct for five years, teaching medical terminology. She says she “bleeds orange” with her OSU ties that include two sons who are OSU graduates. One of them now is working on a master’s degree at OSU-Tulsa.

OSU-CHS Center for Aerospace and Hyperbaric Medicine and the Tulsa Community College Flight School have received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for the GAT II flight simulator. The local flight simulator is the fourth in the nation to be FAA certified and is the only certified simulator west of the Mississippi River.

“We’re excited to offer to the aviation community an FAA certified flight simulator that will allow pilots and student pilots to record time spent in the device as simulator flight time in their official flight records,” explains Dr. Paul Rock, director of the OSU Center for Aerospace and Hyperbaric Medicine.

The GAT II is a three-axis-motion flight simulator and trainer that replicates flight in a Cessna 172, the most frequently used and popular aircraft for flight training in the civilian, general aviation community. During operation, a pilot or student sits inside the simulator, which responds, moves and sounds like the Cessna 172. The GAT II can simulate flight anywhere in the United States including taking off, flying between and landing at any airport in the country. It also simulates any weather condition and night flight. Additionally, it is used to demonstrate visual-spatial disorientations that are a major cause of loss of control in flight resulting in fatal aviation accidents.

The certification of the flight simulator is the result of more than three years of collaborative effort between the OSU CAHM and Tulsa Community College Flight School. Support for the certification effort has come from the Tulsa Aviation Education Alliance. The TAEA is an association founded more than 10 years ago for the purpose of sharing resources between local educational institutions and facilitating access by students to high school through doctoral-level programs in aviation mechanics, flight, management, aerospace engineering, physiology and medicine. The five member institutions include OSU-Stillwater, OSU-Tulsa, OSU-CHS, Tulsa Community College and Tulsa Technology Center.

Are we communicating?

The PR & Marketing Department at OSU Center for Health Sciences is evaluating internal communications, and would like your feedback.

An internal communications committee has been formed and has created a short survey to capture your thoughts and opinions. The survey takes about 5 minutes to complete. Take the survey now (you will be asked for the password, as usual, to access the Centernet site.) Once you complete the survey, click the submit button to send it anonymously.

After you submit the survey, a pop-up box will appear asking if you would like to participate in a focus group discussion. We will hold focus group sessions in February. If you sign up, you will be sent an email with times and locations.

We appreciate your time and involvement.

Spanish translation available

OSU Physicians - Houston Parke pediatrics Spanish interpreter/translator Lu Piszek tells Rounds in a recent e-mail that OSU physicians offer translation for Spanish-speaking patients and focus on making sure translations answer parents’ questions, taking extra time, if needed. Piszek says parents of pediatric patients are very glad that a translator is available. The clinic also has a telephone line for Spanish speakers.

“I would also like to let everyone know that I am very proud to be working for OSU as a Spanish translator and that I take great pride in translating for patients,” she says.

Holidays 2006

OSU-CHS marked the holiday season with a series of events for faculty, staff and students, as well as assistance to others. Members of Sigma Sigma Phi filled their sleigh with gifts for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots. Gifts for Reaching Hands clients and for students at Eugene Field Elementary School were delivered before the holiday break. OSU Physicians clinics employees gathered at the Houston Parke clinic for a buffet luncheon and a drawing for gift baskets. Ryan Miller emceed, assisted by Santa and Dr. JoAnn Ryan. OSU-CHS faculty, staff and friends gathered in Founders Hall Dec. 19 for a seasonal Founders Hall-iday celebration featuring food, a drawing for gift certificates, friendship, music, prizes, games, massages, and crafts. Committee members were Karen Senger, David Barron, LaDonna Lacey, Sandy Runowski, and Marla Schaefer.

A sea of orange and black shows as clinic staff
gathers for a holiday lunch. Photo: Dennis Adams.

Craig Stevens, Ph.D., gives carolers from
Eugene Field elementary school an assist.

Sarah Quinten (left) assists Reaching Hands director
Teri Geilfuss in packing up holiday gifts for clients
from
OSU-CHS Angel Tree. The gift collection was
sponsored by Staff Advisory Council and
Quinten
served as chair.

OSU-CHS’ giving spirit this holiday season supported the Eugene Field Angel Tree to provide gifts at our adopt-a-school.

Gifts were provided for 56 third and fourth graders at Eugene Field Elementary School. In addition, the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumni Association adopted an entire class of students, purchasing gifts for each of them.

The most popular toys requested by the students included Bionicles and Bratz dolls, but one boy asked for a hamster.

Cathy Newsome, program coordinator for the Forensics Graduate Program, said the boy she picked requested the hamster and a cage and nothing else. She called the school to make sure it would be okay to get the pet for him before making the purchase. The gifts were delivered to the school to very excited children on Dec. 20.

Grants Received
Capacity building for National Agricultural Biosecurity: The emerging discipline of agricultural microbial forensics, grant for $247,500 - Dr. Rob Allen in conjunction with Dr. Jacqueline Fletcher, Dept. of Entomology and Plant Pathology, OSU Stillwater. Grant stipend support for two OSU-CHS M.S. students and two OSU-Stillwater Ph.D. students for two years.

Presentations
“Considerations for the interpretation of STR results in cases of questioned half sibship,” and “DNA typing from trace evidence: Studies using ‘touch evidence’,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Blood Banks, Miami, Fla. - Dr. Rob Allen.
“Anatomy and physiology of the human brain, heart and lung,” presented to fourth grade students at Coweta Southside Elementary School – Dr. Randall Davis.
“Observations of two uncommon variations for proximal branches of the femoral artery,” presented at the 95th annual technical meeting of the Oklahoma Academy of Science – Dr. Kent Smith.